This is a classic Ronstadt album, recorded when she was really in her prime, busy cranking out the volume of hits and those seemingly effortless and sometimes facile interpretations of other people's songs, showing just how original an artist she was. Like the legendary Johnny Rivers, who always seemed to have a magical touch for turning other people's work into brilliant covers and best-selling albums, Ronstadt here does a star turn with other people's songs.

The title tune, written by friend and collaborator JD Souther, "Prisoner In Disguise" is a haunting, powerfully performed song. Then too, James Taylor's "Hey Mister, That's Me Up On The Jukebox," is powerfully interpreted. "Heat Wave" and "Tracks of My Tears" are sizzling, as is a banjo-strumming version of Neil Young's "Love Is a Rose". She soars with an interpretation of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross," and a lovely effort at blue-eyed soul with Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You". I personally preferred this version of the song, which is quite beautiful without the vocal histrionics of the Whitney Houston recording, which I think ruin the song as a vehicle. All in all, this is a terrific album and one that is really a showcase for Linda at her very best. Enjoy!

After watching yet another installment of American Idol I happened to revisit this great album and realized that none of the contestants are within a solar system of Linda's voice. When an artist has had as many hits and accolades as she has in her career it's easy to forget what an incredible stylist she was. And this album shows it all. She can go from haunting on the title cut, to heartbreaking on "Hey Mister," to spiritual on "Many Rivers," and to from-the-gut power on the end of "Heat Wave" effortlessly. It's hard to name another female vocalist as versatile as Ms. Ronstadt.

Along with The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, and the Byrds, Linda Ronstadt pioneered the fusion and integration of country music and rock music. Seemingly forgotten by contemporary radio and music fans, her influence can be heard on nearly every radio station in the country. Ronstadt's impressive career ranged from Afro-Cuban to mariachi to pop standards to rock & roll to blues to country and everything in between. One needs only listen to contemporary country singers Terri Clark (who turned out an exact duplicate of Ronstadt's hit "It's So Easy" recently) or Trisha Yearwood, the Dixie Chicks or Martina McBride to hear the legacy of Linda Ronstadt. Her innovation and genre-hopping vocal skills influenced countless numbers of today's performers. So if you want to hear Trisha and Martina's lineage, check out "Prisoner in Disguise," and you will realize how pale a shadow they cast in relation to Linda's. "Prisoner in Disguise" is a genre-bending, radio-defying, gutsy romp that picks you up, carries you along, and never lets you down. Ronstadt -- at the peak of her long and successful career at the time of this recording -- doesn't miss so much as a note on this album. Fans of all kinds of music with all kinds of sensibilities will find absolute perfection here. Her song choices, her phrasing, her inflection, her raw vocal abilities are all on spectacular display, under the sure-handed leaderhip of producer Peter Asher. From the anthemic opener, Neil Young's "Love is a Rose," to the gospel-laced "Many Rivers to Cross," from the hard rocking Rolling Stones-cover "Roll Um Easy," to the sensitive, gently touching version of James Tayor's "Jukebox," Ronstadt thumbs her nose at the conventional wisdom that to be successful a singer must do one thing and do it well. Linda does all things better than anybody.

When "I Will Always Love You" was released with "The Bodyguard" soundtrack I wanted to scream that this song had already been done and done TEN TIMES BETTER by Linda Ronstadt. Linda has it over most of today's pop and country artists by leaps and bounds. This album doesn't suffer with age. It is a timeless classic.

While Linda's other albums may have been more popular than this one is her best. EVERY track on this album is FANTASTIC. Whether it is the beautifully eloquent version of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" or the wild and vibrant Lowell George tune "Roll Um Easy" (featuring the master himself playing the slide guitar!) Linda brings something new and exciting to each song that was previously released by others.

The best thing, though, about this album is the general feel that you get when you listen to the music and look at the album cover that it was produced by a group of people that were just getting together to make music and be creative together. All of the tracks are pure and clean without mechanical wizardry distorting them. Linda is not an artist that has ever needed special effects. Her voice is the real deal: powerful,electric, and simply beautiful.

Everyone else can eat their hearts out.

Linda's great winning streak as a singer, begun by the mass success of HEART LIKE A WHEEL in 1974-1975, continued with this hugely successful 1975 album, which found her mining a lot of different areas.

She gets to sing a traditional country duet with her pal Emmylou Harris ("The Sweetest Gift"), she does reggae ("Many Rivers To Cross"), she even steps into bluegrass territory (Neil Young's "Love Is A Rose"). Her remakes of such Motown standards as "Heat Wave" and "The Tracks Of My Tears" are far better than what such know-nothing Ronstadt bashers as Dave Marsh and Robert Christgau might lead you to believe.

But Linda really does herself proud with her definitive, and I do mean DEFINITIVE, rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You." She sings this song with a warmth, sensitivity, and drama that was totally absent in Whitney Houston's uttterly revolting remake for the movie THE BODYGUARD.

It's no secret that Linda became one of the most respected (and possibly intimidating) female singers in history. This glorious collection from the Queen of Country Rock is further proof of that.